Technical optimization
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What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team, and subject matter experts from leading brands and agencies.
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The role technical SEO should play: It’s makeup
Columnist Clayburn Griffin argues that while technical SEO can make your site more attractive to search engines, it can only go so far. Once you've implemented your technical optimizations, you still need to have something of substance to best your competitors.
The true value of technical SEOs
While many view technical SEO as a simple matter of implementing best practices on a website, columnist Patrick Stox argues that the best practitioners are doing cutting-edge work that will shape the industry's future.
7 fundamental technical SEO questions to answer with a log analysis (and how to easily do it)
According to columnist Aleyda Solis, a thorough analysis of your server logs can help uncover SEO insights you might not have gleaned otherwise.
SearchCap: Google App Streaming Live, Hreflang Notices & AMP Next Week
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: App Indexing & The New Frontier Of SEO: App Packs & App Store Search Feb 19, 2016 by Emily Grossman In this third and final installment of a series on app […]
Webmasters: Be On The Lookout For Hreflang Implementation Notifications From Google
Yesterday, Google sent out a large number of notifications to webmasters who have implemented hreflang markup incorrectly.
Google Adds JSON-LD Support For Structured Data Markup
Now you can use JSON-LD for your structured data markup for products and/or reviews rich snippets in Google. Also make sure to validate your markup, as Google is now enforcing requirements.
The Latest In Advanced Technical SEO: SMX East Recap
Columnist Tony Edward summarizes presentations from an SMX East session on how to tackle complex technical website issues that impact search engine optimization.
A Guide To Schema Markup & Structured Data SEO Opportunities By Site Type
Structured data can help you to send the right signals to search engines about your business and content. But where do you start? Columnist Tony Edward has some suggestions.
SearchCap: Google Structured Data Ranking, Baidu Mobile Assistant & Google My Business App
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Google May Add Structured Markup & Data To Ranking Algorithm Sep 11, 2015 by Barry Schwartz Google hints it may decide to use structured data in its ranking algorithm some day, […]
SearchCap: Google Penguin, Google Maps, Hotel Booking & Hreflang
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Says Penguin Refresh Months Away From Happening Google’s Gary Illyes reminds us that the Penguin algorithm refresh is still months and months away, as Google works to make Penguin run […]
Google Search Console Sends “Incorrect Hreflang Implementation” Notices To Webmasters
Google sent out mass notifications of hreflang issues to webmasters via the Google Search Console.
The Latest In Advanced Technical SEO From SMX Advanced
Columnist Chris Silver Smith shares expert insights on advanced technical SEO, straight from the mouths of industry veterans!
SearchCap: Google Maps Offline, App Indexing & Structured Data
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps Breakthrough: Search And Navigation Without A Connection Google continues to add features and capabilities that keep its maps that much ahead of the competition. Coming out of I/O yesterday […]
Structured Data & The SERPs: What Google’s Patents Tell Us About Ranking In Universal Search
Columnist Barbara Starr delves into several Google patents to explore the ways in which the search giant is displaying search results based on structured data and context.
SearchCap: Google Speeds Up The Web, Expedia Goes Emoji & Hreflang
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Wanted: Session Ideas For SMX East Describe your “must see” topics and improve your odds of speaking by sharing your best session ideas with us. Google Testing Faster & Lightweight Mobile […]
Auditing Hreflang Annotations: The Most Common Issues & How To Avoid Them
It can be challenging to implement the hreflang attribute correctly on multilingual and multinational websites. Columnist Aleyda Solis illustrates the most frequently-made errors.
SearchCap: Importance Of XML Sitemaps, “Relevance” Of Citations More Important Than “Authority” & More
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The Importance Of XML Sitemaps In The Age Of Panda Columnist Janet Driscoll Miller reminds us that in an age of content syndication, a well-maintained XML sitemap is key to establishing […]
The Importance Of XML Sitemaps In The Age Of Panda
Columnist Janet Driscoll Miller reminds us that in an age of content syndication, a well-maintained XML sitemap is key to establishing your site as the original source of your content.
Adidas, Nike & Auditing hreflangs For Explosive SEO Results
These fierce competitors make for a compelling study of differing approaches to internationalizing your website, says contributor Chris Liversidge. They also provide lessons about what can go wrong.
The Next Generation Of Structured Data: Taking Markup To The Next Level
Contributor Janet Driscoll Miller recaps an SMX West 2015 session covering the latest in structured data.
7 Ways To Use Splunk For Technical SEO
Contributor Eli Schwartz recommends several ways to use Splunk, a tool which can help users derive actionable insights from server logs and other machine data.
SearchCap: Google Maps App Revised, Social Links In Knowledge Graph, Google Structured Data Updated
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Events Knowledge Graph Adds Ticket Links, Delegated Events, Comedian Events & Venue Events Google makes four updates to the events knowledge graph after launching the markup back in March 2014. […]
Google Updates Its Structured Data Testing Tool, Documentation & Syntax Support
Google has unleashed a new and improved Structured Data Testing tool, updated their documentation and guidelines, while adding more markup support.
Google Quietly Updates The International Targeting Hreflang Webmaster Tools Reporting
Google has updated the “accuracy” of the reporting within the Google Webmaster Tools International Targeting section. On November 18th, Google said: Google refined the accuracy for reporting hreflang tags. This update might show as a sudden change in the report graph. You now may see an “update” line in the graph that conveys when the […]
XML Sitemaps Or RSS/Atom Feeds? Google Says Use Both For Optimal Crawling
When it comes to telling search engines about the content on a website, webmasters might be wondering if they should submit sitemaps or just setup RSS or Atom feeds. Google’s answer? Use both. In a new blog post sharing advice on XML sitemaps and RSS/Atom feeds, Google says it’s not an either/or question. For optimal […]
Google Investigating Bugs With Structured Data Report In Webmaster Tools
There are hundreds of complaints within the webmaster and SEO community around the Structured Data report within Google Webmaster Tools showing massive drops in structured data elements being shown. The good news is that everyone seems to be affected by the issue and that Google’s John Mueller said on Google+ that Google has “been looking […]
How Online Retailers Can Leverage Unique Identifiers & Structured Data
Ever since the Hummingbird update, there has been a ton of Internet buzz about entity search. What is entity search? How does it work? And what exactly is an “entity”? However, the topic of entity search as it relates to e-commerce and Google Shopping has been neglected. Everything you have learned to date about entity […]
The Structured Data Brouhaha At SMX East: Clarifying Contentious Issues
If you attended the Structured Data Superstars session at SMX East earlier this month, you probably witnessed a very brief interchange between myself and Googler Pierre Far at the end of the session. Pierre woke everyone up by stating that some of the semantic markup recommendations I’d presented would be considered “spam” by Google. It was […]
Structured Data Superstars @ SMX East
Structured data has become a hot topic over the past year or so, and at SMX East, the room was packed for the Structured Data Superstars session. Evan Sandhaus of the New York Times kicked it off with a very impressive look at how the Times spent the last three years developing and implementing structured […]
Preview Google’s New Structured Data Dashboard Beta
A couple weeks ago, we reported Google opened up invite requests to join a beta of the structure data dashboard. I signed up immediately and yesterday, I, along with other webmasters, received my welcome email to take a look at the report. To sign up, you can do so at over here – I am […]
Unstructured Data In Display: Cut Through The Fog To Provide Insight
In my last article, I talked about the importance of unstructured data for optimal performance in display advertising. This time, I’d like to bring that conversation full circle and explore another aspect of what unstructured data provides in spades: insight. While performance is typically the primary way of measuring advertising efforts, insight about your specific […]
Google’s Cutts Talks Structured Data Beta, Mobile Site Speed Need, Penalty Notices To Get Example Links & More
Last night at SMX Advanced, Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts was on stage to answer questions about Google search and webmaster topics with Danny Sullivan. We covered the session in live blog format and pulled out several key points. Of all my years watching Matt Cutts talk, I believe it has been over […]
Google Structured Data Dashboard Beta
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, announced at SMX Advanced a new beta application is testing within Google Webmaster Tools named the Structured Data Dashboard. The new dashboard will show webmasters more errors and reporting based on their schema, rich snippet and structured data implemented on a website. Matt said if you as a […]
3 Reasons Why Deploying Hreflang Shouldn’t Be An Auto-Reflex!
I apologize for talking yet again about hreflang — but there is an important point I really want to make for those working in geo-targeting. For some, “hreflang” is becoming an auto-reflex, and that’s definitely not helping their international success. Allow me to explain why. A quick recap of hreflang first. Hreflang is an attribute […]
Google Adds Structured Data Markup Helper Tool
Google announced today a new, fun and useful tool to help webmasters markup their webpages with schema structured data. Structured data markup can help a webpage enhance its search listings by adding rich snippets to the search results page. Google announced two upgrades here to the structured data tool. Google added a new tool to […]
Bing Officially Releases Bing XML Sitemap Plugin 1.0
After releasing a preview of the Bing sitemap plugin a few months ago, Bing is ready to officially launch the Bing XML Sitemap Plugin 1.0 to the public. This sitemap plugin allows webmasters to easily create XML sitemap files for their websites that can be submitted to Bing Webmaster Tools or other search engines. It […]
Using the X-Default Hreflang Tag For Multinational SEO: Default Language Opportunities
Google & Yandex announced the new x-default hreflang tag earlier this month, and in doing so closed the final gap in executing 'perfect' SEO platforms for multinational brands. There is, however, the question of what language content to use as your default, and how you can bring a little quantifiable information to play to determine your best, overall, choice.
Unstructured Data: Turning Chaos Into Performance
As advertisers, we’re bombarded daily with new ways to work with our data, many of which promise to streamline and maximize our efforts. Yet, while all of the tools and possibilities for digital advertising can lend significant potency to our marketing strategies, they can also result in frenetic chaos. Advertisers need to find ways to […]
New: Bing Sitemap Plugin Helps Webmasters Create XML Sitemap Files
Bing announced, on its Bing Webmaster Blog, a new feature that helps webmasters create two types of XML Sitemaps. Bing created a server-side application that works on both IIS and Apache servers that helps you create a comprehensive Sitemap and, also, a recently updated Sitemap. The binaries can be downloaded at the Microsoft download site. […]
Is Google Hijacking Semantic Markup/Structured Data?
In 2012, I started a series, How The Major Search And Social Engines Are Using The Semantic Web, which took us to a point in time around September 2012. Since then, there have been further interesting developments. In this article, I am going to focus on recent developments that are search engine and/or Google specific, […]